Editorial TeamFor anyone, success will take work.
Being a mom-owned business and a high-achieving professional black woman can be a gratifying experience. It is, however, with its challenges.
As a black woman, as a mom, and as a minority business owner learning to advocate for oneself has always been your greatest asset, frequently creating opportunities in areas where corporate roles denied the majority the ability to sit at the table equally.
Today, in 2023, as we take a birds-eye view into the gender wealth-wage gap amongst black women continues.
Proving to us that black women of color still suffer from greater economic inequality while facing racial and sexual discrimination.
Black women are often underrated, undervalued, overlooked, and frequently given camouflaged restraints that silently hide in the form of mom guilt, self-doubt, and limiting beliefs about what is possible for them to achieve.
Black women have also proven to receive degrees at a higher rate becoming amongst the most educated in the US, only to realize a degree alone does not offer evening out the pay grade for black women.
It isn’t easy being a black woman in corporate America either, and the struggle continues if you’re a mom. You’ve most likely come face to face with your fair exchange of efforts while attempting to secure a degree to feel confident you have the skillset and the educational background to meet minimum qualifications.
You know the fight of attending night school, working 40-plus hours, and still trying to manage a household to feel as though you are qualified to move your payscale up the corporate ladder.
Most would agree that advocating for undergraduate, graduate, or doctorate-level degrees may present the opportunity to even the playing field for some, only to learn that this is not all that is required.
Degrees are an excellent qualifying factor for building wealth and success; however, a degree alone isn’t enough for black moms on welfare and food stamps in today’s economic economy.
As a high-achieving woman, you desire more and understand it is possible to achieve a better quality of life, even if you are the first generation to see it come to pass.
Unfortunately, here’s the ugly truth, the 2019-2022 pandemic left many high-achieving and high-earning career moms scrambling to find employment that would comfortably allow them to navigate balancing both family and business.
Studies show that from 2014-2019, black women are the fastest-growing group of entrepreneurs in the US.
Knowing this remarkable fact, we cannot ignore the fight within a mother who dares to give up on her dream.
While the pandemic did not only present layoffs for many moms, it also presented the opportunity.
It appears that settling for black women is not in the DNA of a mom focused on building wealth for her family.
Since the pandemic, there has been a greater understanding that as a mom, children are not their weakness. They are a mom’s strength as she strives to break through barriers and generational curses.
Minority mom-owned business owners have honestly created possibilities from the impossible. They are advocating and invoking superpowers combined with transferable skills into entrepreneurship.
One in every three businesses is owned and operated by a mom, equating to about 4.7 million business owners, allowing flexibility, freedom, and the financial supplemental pay increase.
Being present to provide for their children during a global pandemic proved to many moms that their children mattered first. As a mom, you can still have a successful life that does not require settling, even if that means creating the opportunity.
Entrepreneurship allowed many mom-owned businesses the opportunity to create the titles, job descriptions, and roles they deeply desired.
Black women advocating for themselves revealed that a title or their educational background did not limit the measurement of their success, but instead, by focusing on their ambitious mindset to never settle.
Although there are many external and other negative pressures for black moms not being successful, holding positions of power, and owning successful businesses, learning to advocate for yourself will continue to weaken the gender and wage gap for moms globally.
I want to help high-achieving mom-owned businesses leverage their strengths and expertise as business owners to better advocate for themselves.
Here are five tips for advocating for yourself so you can achieve your goals as a high-achieving mom.
1. Building Confidence is critical. Being an advocate for yourself can feel challenging. After all, it often means stepping outside of your comfort zone to advocate for yourself and your brand in a way you only sometimes feel prepared. Become comfortable with getting uncomfortable and know who you are.
2. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when your plate is overflowing. Learn to delegate tasks as needed to help you manage your time more efficiently, grow your business, reduce burnout, and increase productivity. You can only grow to the level you are supported. Be ok with asking for help.
3. Support other women. Creating opportunities for yourself is excellent; however, sharing the spotlight with other unique mom-owned businesses is a great way to promote, give back, and build meaningful connections. Building strategic collaborations and networking is a great way to build partnerships with other influential business owners.
4. Have a voice! Our journeys and our testimonies are indeed not our own. Our perspective matters. When we show up, we create opportunities for others around us. Understand who you are, your values, and your beliefs as a mom. Never settle and understand that it will be your disruptive measures for you to stand firm on unpopular opinions as you pave the way for other high-achieving moms, just like you.
5. Be prepared for failure – no one succeeds overnight; it takes hard work, perseverance, and dedication to build a successful business from scratch! Never give up on who you are becoming. Your journey and process will pave the way for other moms like you.
Bio: As a consultant, Marquitta DaShae’ Johnson helps high-achieving moms position transition into the roles of thought leaders and industry experts by coaching them into launching their very own profitable six-plus figure coaching programs from the comfort of their couch with ease. She does this through her signature coaching program, Mom To Millionaire 12 Week Coaching Accelerator.